Randy Aldcroft has written 3 volumes (12 in each volume) of wonderful jazz duets for Horns in all keys. These duets were written for the intermediate and advanced student interested in playing in a jazz style. The range of notes gets higher and the duetsget harder with each volume. The chord changes are included to help learn the structure and chord progressions, and so the duets may be played with a rhythm section if desired. -the publisher (score sample pages)
...

These duets are ideal for the teacher who wishes to accompany his student. They are an excellent study for transposition experience. Best of all, the duets are charming and musically delightful to perform. The first set of Grand Duets, No. 1 through 13, are written for two horns in treble clef and can be played on the natural horn. No. 14 through 31 are also in treble clef but written for the valve horn. The next group of 30 duets is designed for French horn in treble clef and for a bass clef ins...

Solo Duet Training for Horns by James Boldin is appropriate for high school through professional horn players. These duets are a unique and creative way to learn seven of the most popular horn solos. Solo Duet Training can be used to help students learn style and technique, as recreational musical diversions, or even as additions to recitals if an accompanist is unavailable. The duets include Dukas: Villanelle, Glazunov: Reverie, Mozart: Concerto K. 447 (Horn in F and E-flat), Saint-Saens: Morcea...

21st Century (2010). Originally for two bassoons, here transcribed by the composer for two horns. "A vibrant and colorful sonatina dedicated to Arnold Irchai and Tama Kott. This picturesque composition is divided into four movements: Aggressive, Contemplative, Buoyant, and Energetic. The playful, yet sophisticated character of the music makes this anentertaining, audience-friendly work. Four Miniatures was premiered on March 9, 2010 by Arnold Irchai and Tama Kott at Southwest Missouri State Univ...

20th Century (1996). Sonatina in 4 movements: Daybreak, Chorale, Rendezvous, Homeward Bound is both fun to play and listen to. Daybreak has a frolicking and optimistic character. Chorale breaks with the traditional structure of the chorale in that each phrase gets a measure longer. The harmonies of the second movement contain some spicy dissonances as well. Rendezvous, is in a lilting 6/8 and really "works up a lather" as it progresses to an exciting climax. Homeward Bound, begins with a fanfare-...

Challenging Jazz Duets Volume 1 is a set of 5 jazz duets. The purpose of these duets is to provide players challenging jazz duets based on the chord changes to standard jazz tunes. The titles of these duets are an obvious allusion to the titles of the standard jazz tunes: 1) Riding the Rails (Take the A Train), 2) Red Salsa (Blue Bossa), 3) In a Mellow Way (In a Mellow Tone), 4) Singing for Pops (Song for My Father), and 5) G-Man Blues (standard concert F blues). -the publisher "Stand-Alone" ver...

This stunning collection of grade 3 through 6 duets for like brass instruments (treble clef) was written by John Summers Cox and edited by Frank Simon, both performers in the legendary John Philip Sousa band. Written in a full range of styles, this book will supply your top players with great music for concert or contest. Includes: Duo de Concert ù Rondo El‚gante ù Episode ù Minuetto ù Marche C‚lŠbre ù Morceau Lyrique ù Rondoletto ù Introduction and Allegro ù Duo Pastorale ù Salon ù Rondo-Finale ...

21st Century (2012). As a guest composer of the Brisbane (Australia) Conservatory and the Brisbane Philharmonic, Ewazen was captivated by the churning waves and the sheer grandeur of the Gold Coast landscape, writing bold music filled with lifting and cascading arpeggios for the pair of horns. Gold Coast Harmony is dedicated to hornists Lisa Bontrager and Michelle Stebleton, and pianist Tomoko Kanamaru, who premiered the work at the 2005 convention of the International Horn Society. The work is r...

Baroque. Editor's note: for hornists, works for corno da caccia are extremely difficult because of their especially high tessitura. Even by adopting the compromise of playing the parts with a modern piston valve corno da caccia, which is to the old cornoda caccia what the modern piccolo trumpet is to the baroque natural trumpet. On the other hand, the range of the flugelhorn or of the Bb trumpet corresponds perfectly to these parts which are then easily playable without altering their character....

Baroque. Editor's note: for hornists, works for corno da caccia are extremely difficult because of their especially high tessitura. Even by adopting the compromise of playing the parts with a modern piston valve corno da caccia, which is to the old cornoda caccia what the modern piccolo trumpet is to the baroque natural trumpet. On the other hand, the range of the flugelhorn or of the Bb trumpet corresponds perfectly to these parts which are then easily playable without altering their character....

This collection of short original duets is ideal for developing strong musical skills, independent playing and just having fun! Possible uses might include anything from a short interlude between concert group setups to a brief presentation at a community, PTA or school board meeting. They are sold as like-instrument duets but may be combined with any combination of instruments to form mixed duets. -the publisher

Woodwind Instrumentation Codes

Following many of the titles in our Wind Ensemble catalog, you will see a set of numbers enclosed in square brackets, as in this example:

Description

Price

Rimsky-KorsakovQuintet in Bb [1011-1 w/piano]Item: 26746

$28.75

The bracketed numbers tell you the precise instrumentation of the ensemble. The first number stands for Flute, the second for Oboe, the third for Clarinet, the fourth for Bassoon, and the fifth (separated from the woodwinds by a dash) is for Horn. Any additional instruments (Piano in this example) are indicated by "w/" (meaning "with") or by using a plus sign.

Sometimes there are instruments in the ensemble other than those shown above. These are linked to their respective principal instruments with either a "d" if the same player doubles the instrument, or a "+" if an extra player is required. Whenever this occurs, we will separate the first four digits with commas for clarity. Thus a double reed quartet of 2 oboes, english horn and bassoon will look like this:

0,2+1,0,1-0

Note the "2+1" portion means "2 oboes plus english horn"

Titles with no bracketed numbers are assumed to use "Standard Instrumentation." The following is considered to be Standard Instrumentation:

Duo - Flute & Clarinet - or [1010-0]

Trio - Flute, Oboe & Clarinet - or [1110-0]

Quartet - Flute, Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon - or [1111-0]

Quintet - Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon & Horn - [or 1111-1]

Brass Instrumentation Codes

Following many of the titles in our Brass Ensemble catalog, you will see a set of five numbers enclosed in square brackets, as in this example:

Description

Price

CoplandFanfare for the Common Man [343.01 w/tympani]Item: 02158

$14.95

The bracketed numbers tell you how many of each instrument are in the ensemble. The first number stands for Trumpet, the second for Horn, the third for Trombone, the fourth (separated from the first three by a dot) for Euphonium and the fifth for Tuba. Any additional instruments (Tympani in this example) are indicated by a "w/" (meaning "with") or by using a plus sign.

Trumpet Horn Trombone . Euphonium Tuba

Thus, the Copland Fanfare shown above is for 3 Trumpets, 4 Horns, 3 Trombones, no Euphonium, 1 Tuba and Tympani. There is no separate number for Bass Trombone, but it can generally be assumed that if there are multiple Trombone parts, the lowest part can/should be performed on Bass Trombone.

Titles listed in our catalog without bracketed numbers are assumed to use "Standard Instrumentation." The following is considered to be Standard Instrumentation:

Brass Duo - Trumpet & Trombone, or [101.00]

Brass Trio - Trumpet, Horn & Trombone, or [111.00]

Brass Quartet - 2 Trumpets, Horn & Trombone, or [211.00]

Brass Quintet - 2 Trumpets, Horn, Trombone & Tuba, or [211.01]

Brass Sextet and greater - No Standard Instrumentaion

People often ask us about "PJBE" or "Philip Jones" instrumentation. This is a special instrumentation adopted and perfected by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. It consists of the forces 414.01, and often includes Percussion and/or Tympani. In addition, there are often doublings in the Trumpet section
- Piccolo and Flugelhorn being the most common. While this instrumentation has come to be common, it is still not "Standard" as many Brass Dectets use very different forces, most often with more Horns than PJBE.

String Instrumentation Codes

Following many of the titles in our String Ensemble catalog, you will see a set of four numbers enclosed in square brackets, as in this example:

Description

Price

AtwellVance's Dance [0220]Item: 32599

$8.95

These numbers tell you how many of each instrument are in the ensemble. The first number stands for Violin, the second for Viola, the third for Cello, and the fourth for Double Bass. Thus, this string quartet is for 2 Violas and 2 Cellos, rather than the usual 2110.
Titles with no bracketed numbers are assumed to use "Standard Instrumentation." The following is considered to be Standard Instrumentation:

String Duo - Viola & Viola - [1100]

String Trio - Violin, Viola, Cello - [1110]

String Quartet - 2 Violins, Viola, Cello - [2110]

String Quintet - 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Bass - [2111]

Orchestra & Band Instrumentation Codes

Following some titles in our Orchestra & Band catalogs, you will see a numeric code enclosed in square brackets, as in these examples:

The bracketed numbers tell you the precise instrumentation of the ensemble. The system used above is standard in the orchestra music field. The first set of numbers (before the dash) represent the Woodwinds. The set of numbers after the dash represent the Brass. Percussion is abbreviated following the brass. Strings are represented with a series of five digits representing the quantity of each part (first violin, second violin, viola, cello, bass). Other Required and Solo parts follow the strings:

Woodwindsâ€”Brass, Percussion, Strings, Other

Principal auxilary instruments (piccolo, english horn, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, wagner tuba, cornet & euphonium) are linked to their respective instruments with either a "d" if the same player doubles the auxiliary instrument, or a "+" if an extra player is required. Instruments shown in parenthesis are optional and may be omitted.

Example 1 - Beethoven:

[2,2,2,2-2,2,0,0, tymp, 44322]

The Beethoven example is typical of much Classical and early Romantic fare. In this case, the winds are all doubled (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets and 2 bassoons), and there are two each horns and trumpets. There is no low brass. There is tympani. Strings are a standard 44322 configuration (4 first violin, 4 second violin, 3 viola, 2 cello, 2 bass). Sometimes strings are simply listed as "str," which means 44322 strings.

Example 2 - Jones: (concert band/wind ensemble example)

[2+1,1,3+ac+bc,2,SAATB-2+2,4,3+1,1, tymp, percussion, double bass]

The second example is common for a concert band or wind ensemble piece. This ficticious work is for 2 flutes (plus piccolo), 1 oboe, 3 clarinets plus alto and bass clarinets, 2 bassoons, 5 saxes (soprano, 2 altos, tenor & bari), 2 trumpets (plus 2 cornets), 3 trombones, euphonium, tuba, tympani, percussion and double bass. Note the inclusion of the saxes after bassoon for this band work. Note also that the separate euphonium part is attached to trombone with a plus sign. For orchestral music, saxes are at the end (see Saxophones below. It is highly typical of band sets to have multiple copies of parts, especially flute, clarinet, sax, trumpet, trombone & percussion. Multiples, if any, are not shown in this system. The numbers represent only distinct parts, not the number of copies of a part.

Note: This system lists Horn before Trumpet. This is standard orchestral nomenclature. Unless otherwise noted, we will use this system for both orchestra and band works (in most band scores, Trumpet precedes Horn, and sometimes Oboe & Bassoon follow Clarinet). Also, it should be noted that Euphonium can be doubled by either Trombone or Tuba. Typically, orchestra scores have the tuba linked to euphonium, but it does happen where Trombone is the principal instead.

Saxophones, when included in orchestral music (they rarely are) will be shown in the "other instrument" location after strings and before the soloist, if any. However for band music, they are commonly present and therefore will be indicated after bassoon as something similar to "SAATB" where S=soprano, A=alto, T=tenor and B=baritone. Letters that are duplicated (as in A in this example) indicate multiple parts.

And finally, here is one more way to visualize the above code sequence: